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Of Feather and Bone lock in deadly, virulent mission with ‘Bestial Hymns of Perversion’

Photo by Pale With Decay

If you walk away from a death metal record feeling emboldened and empowered, somebody messed up. Either you’re bad at listening to music, or the band is really not very good at expressing their chosen sub-genre. I realize there are flavors for everyone but come on now. This is the land of the dead. What good possibly can come from that?

Denver’s Of Feather and Bone have the misery and virulent chaos one should expect and desire from a death metal record, and their second album “Bestial Hymns of Perversion” should tell you everything you need to know about the headspace right from the title. This is seven tracks, 32 minutes of brutality, a place where blood is shed without a tear, and the pain distributed is nearly too much to handle. Thank fuck for that, too. The last thing we need is more spit shine on this sub-genre, and these guys—guitarist/vocalist DG, bassist/vocalist AS, and drummer PW—continue delivering heaping, stinking death that should please anyone with sickening tastes. The band has been doing its thing since 2012, dropping a couple EPs and a split release before their eye-opening debut “Embrace the Wretched Flesh” in 2015. As time has gone, their sound only has grown deadlier and more violent, which you can hear all over “Bestial Hymns.”

“Repulsive Obscurity” gets us started with bubbling noise and growls tearing through the fog before the tempo strikes. The guitars grind away, while the vocals are gross and menacing, and the band sets up complete demolition. The guitars later dizzy and spread, while the monstrous drumming leaves bruises on your chest. “Resounding From the Depths” destroys right away, and some of this gives me a Revenge vibe, which is a positive. The band thrashes away and brings strike after strike, as the thick bass levels you, and it feels like you’re headed into a death furnace. The pace continues to pelt before a massive, charred end. “Lust for Torment” drops the hammers, as massive growls bury you, and the guitars swoop and stab away. Things become an ugly pit of hell, as the assault continues, the growls gurgle blood, and the drumming lands haymakers.

“Mockery of the Ascension” rips everything apart, as it is massive and heavy, with no escape hinted at from this battery. Guitars coil and strike, while crazed roars lash out, and the band twists you into a knot, continuing the violence until the song finally bleeds out. “Hymn of Perversion” has melody bouncing all around before the thing is blown to bits. The track smothers you in heaviness, getting uglier as it gains speed and collects bones. The vocals are blasphemously dangerous, mixing right into the hellish playing that only gets more vicious as it lives. “Pious Abnormality” chews at the flesh, mauling and driving thorns deep into your tissues. The drums blast as the cries for “invocation of the spirit!” release even more pain, leading the song into pure madness. The band settles back into a death groove, laying waste and leading toward finale “Throne of the Serpent.” There, filth slowly collects as growls lurk beneath the surface, and an animalistic charge delivers misery. The song trudges and brings blood rushing to your face, while the final minutes offer total devastation and a swarm of stinging insects looking to feast on your body.

Of Feather and Bone continue to add to death metal’s horrid tradition, and “Bestial Hymns of Perversion” should go down as one of this year’s more terrifying releases. There is no sunlight here, there is no place to find salvation, and there is no hope. There only are seven tracks of unrelenting hell that are here to sour and destroy your soul.